Magnets

Canada may be the latest country to ban the sale of small, high-powered magnets. The Canadian minister of health, Leona Aglukkaq, announced several new health initiatives last week including increased regulation of small magnets in children's products.

Eight retailers, including supplier ThinkGeek, are working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall Buckyballs after the manufacturer, Maxfield & Oberton, refused to participate. The company went out of business following a CPSC lawsuit in 2012.

The Lion Circle Corporation recently announced its hire of Joelle Tedford, who will join the Lion Circle team as national sales manager.

Tedford comes to Lion Circle with five years of experience in the promotional products industry. Most recently, Tedford worked as the supplier sales account manager for SAGE Quick Technologies. There, she was responsible for effectively managing over 400 client accounts, presenting custom marketing and advertising solutions, and cultivating client relationships through market research. This background will help Joelle to make an easy transition into her current position with Lion Circle.

The Quality Certification Alliance (QCA), the promotional product industry's only independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping companies provide safe products, has granted QCA Accreditation to Lenexa, Kansas-based Gill Studios Inc.

You may recall my tongue-in-cheek post back in July when the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) decided to sue Maxfield & Oberton, makers of the powerful magnet toy Buckyballs, due to 20 cases over the last four years of children swallowing them out of more than 3 million sold. Now it’s over, and Buckyballs are officially discontinued. Farewell, Buckyballs. How we loved thee. The good news is that the Buckyballs company plans to continue making other magnet toys, including the new Buckybigs and Buckybars. The bad news is that if you don’t have any Buckyballs or Buckycubes and don’t get some

Maxfield & Oberton, the maker of Buckyballs and Buckycubes, popular office toys made up of small magnetic beads that can be molded into different shapes, is discontinuing those products after continued pressure from the federal government.

Marketed to adults as a stress reliever and a cure for cubicle boredom, more than 2 million Buckyballs have been sold in the United States.

"Due to baseless and relentless legal badgering by a certain four letter government agency, it's time to bid a fond farewell to the world's most popular adult desk toys, Buckyballs and Buckycubes.

A study released today says that hundreds of children and teens have been treated by physicians, with dozens needing surgery for injuries, in just the past two years after swallowing tiny super-strong magnetic balls despite labels and warnings to keep them away from children.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission this past summer moved to recall the existing magnet toys, which typically are sold in sets of 100 or more BB-sized balls as adult desk playthings under brand names such as Buckyballs, Zen Magnets, and NeoCube, which was the first of these toys to hit the market in 2008.

Hitachi Metals Ltd.'s (5486) complaint seeking to block U.S. imports of competitors' rare-earth magnets used in electronics, golf ball markers and power tools will be investigated by the International Trade Commission.

The commission today said it started a probe into the case filed Aug. 17 by the Japanese maker of specialty-metal products against more than two dozen companies. Notice of the decision was posted on the agency's website.

The dispute is over patented inventions related to the manufacture of sintered rare-earth magnets, which are light and powerful compounds used in batteries, magnets and computer hard drives.

With the CPSC threatening a ban or restrictions on magnetic toys, Nanodots is already looking at ways to make their products safer. Nanodots is introducing two features that may help them negotiate the upcoming ruling, regardless of what it might be.

The things that make Nanodots so awesome are also the things that make them enticing and dangerous for young children. It is easy to see why they would be attracted shiny playthings, especially if the child sees older siblings and parents playing with them. It's the shiny factor that Nanodots has addressed first with a minor change in packaging.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has voted 4 to 0 to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at developing a new federal standard for small, high-powered magnet sets like Buckyballs.